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Tsunami kills 4,185 in Indonesia
A powerful earthquake and tsunami waves rocked Indonesia yesterday, killing more than 4,000 people.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 December 27, 2004
A powerful earthquake and tsunami waves rocked Indonesia yesterday, killing more than 4,000 people.
Raging waters washed residents out to sea and tore children from their parents' arms, officials said.
The Health Ministry put the death toll at 4,185 across the provinces of rebellious Aceh and also North Sumatra on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
In a statement , it said the worst affected area was Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, where more than 2,000 had been killed. It did not say whether the earthquake or tsunami caused the most damage.
Lines to Banda Aceh have been virtually cut all day.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared Aceh a national disaster zone and instructed cabinet ministers to speed aid to victims, the official Antara news agency reported.
Aceh is already under civilian emergency rule as part of efforts to quell a long-running insurgency in the province.
The US Geological Survey said the powerful earthquake that rattled Indonesia and many other parts of southern Asia, leaving more than 4,000 other people feared dead in Sri Lanka, Thailand and southern India, had a magnitude of 8.9.
"The weather was fine with no clouds, there was no warning and suddenly the sea water just hit the city. In some parts the water was up to chest level," Bustami, a resident in the Aceh city of Lhokseumawe, said by telephone.
"People are panicking now. Some of us are walking by foot and others are in military trucks going to higher ground."
Health officials told SCTV television that 107 bodies had been brought to Lhokseumawe's Cut Meutia hospital. Sadli, an official at the hospital, said many of the dead in the city were children under the age of 10.
"Maybe they were being carried by their parents but they fell over in the water and could not hold on to their children. All the dead children drowned," said Sadli.
Officials said hundreds of houses had been swept away by the force of five-metre (15-foot) waves across Aceh.
On Nias island off North Sumatra province, directly south of Aceh, officials said 75 people had died.
Nias is popular with foreign surfers, although officials said they had yet to hear reports of any foreigners being killed.
"We have never seen anything like this. The waves just kept coming. We have fled to high areas for safety," Kibaret Sarumaha, a resident on Nias, told Metro TV.
There have been few reports from the western side of Sumatra island, facing the epicentre of the powerful quake.
Residents reported the quake toppled homes inland in Aceh, knocked down power lines and damaged bridges.
The airport in the local capital, Banda Aceh, had been closed because of damage, the official Antara news agency reported.
Marine Colonel Buyung Lelana, from Kuala Langka village in northern Aceh, said some people including his own men were curious when they saw the waves and made the mistake of failing to flee in time.
"Tens of people saw the rising water and didn't run to high ground, moreover they kept watching it. Several of my personnel are missing," Lelana said by telephone.
However, more than 200 prisoners escaped from a jail in Aceh when the tsunami knocked down its walls, a police official said.
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